A dental implant or fixture is surgically implanted into the patient's upper or lower jaw bone to directly or indirectly anchor and support prosthetic devices, such as an artificial tooth. In order to install the implant, an implant site is prepared using conventional surgical procedures. Typically, an incision is made along the gingival tissue at the implant site and a bore is drilled into the patient's mandible or maxilla at the site using a drill and drill bits mounted on the drill called dental burs. Oftentimes, multiple dental burs of different shapes and sizes must be used to create a single properly sized and shaped bore.
To maintain sterilization, the implant is contained in a sterilized package or container often in the form of a vial with a flip open lid. The container may be held by a user with one hand while the user holds a driving tool in the other hand in order to engage and lift the implant out of the vial. Requiring two hands, however, can result in an awkward and inconvenient process during surgery. Once lifted, the implant is either threaded or press fit into the bore in the patient's jaw by using an implant driver to exert an apical force upon the end of the implant.
To store surgical tools, some known storage devices have a block with holes on the top of the block to receive and store only dental burs. The block and burs can be sterilized together through an autoclaving process. Some dental bur blocks contain a complex system with a reservoir compartment on the block which holds a volume of disinfectant fluid for sterilization of the burs.
Dental practitioners also need to verify the correct length of dental burs and/or implants being used for the surgical procedure. Often, the practitioner will use a drill to ensure implant length by comparing the known size of the drill with the size of the implant. A practitioner also may choose to measure the implant or dental bur using a separate periodontal probe or other instrument to verify the implant or bur length.
Thus, it can be understood that dental implant surgery, as well as any implant surgery, may require many separate surgical items in addition to dental burs, such as drills, implant containers, implant drives, bone taps, and measurement devices. Since the various surgical items mentioned above are separate components, the various items may be misplaced or difficult to maintain together at a close proximity to a patient readily available during a surgical procedure and in an order convenient to the surgeon. Therefore, it is desirable to have a storage device for implant surgery that solves the problems mentioned above.